SHOP CLUES: BUSINESS ANALYSIS

Introduction

SHOPCLUES is an evolving e-commerce enterprise based in India that offers various products across categories for consumers of small and mid-sized cities. The business targets middle class consumers primarily and offers price competitive products from clothing to electronics consumer products. Price leadership in the market of e-commerce makes Shop clues one of the top consumer favorite enterprises to shop. Established in the year 2011 by Sanjay Sethi, Radhika Agarwal and Sandeep Agarwal and owned by an American business named Clues Network Pvt Ltd Shop clues the company a renowned for its cheap and quality products across diverse categories which poses stiff competition to mature e-commerce companies operating in India namely EBay, Flipkart and Snap deal. The company aims to bridge the gaps between buyers and sellers by allowing stakeholders to discover various products that various sellers in the country want to offer thus allowing stakeholders to openly utilize its e-commerce platform, discover variety of offerings, avail attractive discounts on preferred products and consequently build a strong network of business stakeholders’ overtime.

The business employs B2C (Business to Consumer) model and introduced a new market place model of selling in which  Shop clues allows various sellers to sell their products on its platform charging them nominal service and platform fee. The unique strategy of shop clues allows thousands of small and mid-sized businesses across the country to participate in the e-commerce selling campaigns thereby posing an effective competition to its rival companies. However, despite of several advantages offered by the business model the company initially faced several challenges in supply chain and logistics.

Business Problem with Shop Clues

The main problem that reduced the company’s profitability was issues with its supply chain and logistics. The company employed airways of supplies and logistics of products to bring down shipment time however it proved expensive and reduced business profitability which was later altered to normal shipment and delivery of suppliers and products (Deepan et al, 2019).

Secondly, problems in company’s product offerings began cropping up due to increased consumer complaints against the products and sellers. Shop clues in an effort to bring down price and reach maximum number of consumers in remote regions of the country allows various businesses without verifying and reviewing consumer feedbacks and seller authenticity which resulted in huge losses to the company in the form of reduced sales, disloyal consumers and depleted market share. It was found that in an effort to sell urban products to rural regions at cheapest prices the company poor quality products, fake branding and duplicated products to millions of consumers that impacted its reputation, revenue and market share. There had been numerous complaints from consumer community about fake products, scams and fake brandings (Nair, 2022).

Thirdly, aggressive rival tactics of Amazon and Flipkart substantially deprived Shop clues from leveraging available market opportunities which is why the company chose to target tier 2 and tier 3 cities where middle and lower middle class consumers dwell. Poor supply chain and logistics management and extreme aggressive marketing and business strategies of competitors rendered Shop clues helpless compelling the company to make inappropriate decisions in wrong time when it was required that the management of the company maintained its cool and developed and implemented appropriate market opportunities by adopting innovative marketing strategies which will allow the business optimally leverage the available and untapped markets which may have been potentially lucrative opportunities of growth and expansion for business (Nair, 2022).

Problem Analysis

Based on the information and analysis it can be inferred that Shop clues faced severe setbacks due to inefficient supply chain and logistics issues, increased delivery time, lack of data marketing management, poor advertising and marketing strategies and practices which eventually generated a lasting adverse impacts on the enterprise. As a consequence the business needs to perceive the market from a mature and long term perspective, develop and implement innovative marketing strategies and ensure appropriate technologies in supply chain management and product delivery are adopted which will not only ensure long term benefits to the business but also guarantee a sustainable competitive advantage in the long term.

It can be seen that information among stakeholders whether it be supply chain management stakeholders, consumers or sellers was lacking which not only created delays and denials but also built an environment of distrust and disloyalty among the consumer community towards the business. Thus it is important that data management and analytics is given top priority and appropriate measures are implemented to leverage maximum marketing advantage. This will significantly reduce costs, cut down time and resource usage and ensure consumer satisfaction due to targeting marketing derived from right data management.

Recommendations

It is strongly recommended that supply chain network is strengthened and made more efficient by bridging the gaps between stakeholders which will result in delays, costs and barriers in the supply chain process. Secondly, adopting of big data analytics which aids in data storage, processing, analyzing, identifying and recommending appropriate targeted consumer groups at right time is essential for ensuring marketing success. The main features of big data such as predictive data analytics, prescriptive data analytics and diagnostics data analytics allows in precisely targeting potential consumers based on their user generated data such as transactional history, buying behavior patterns, interests and preferences which not only cuts down time and costs but ensures a potential sale for the business. This will also immensely enhance the performance of supply chain activities due to precise targeting of consumers at right times. Thus, issues, delays and denials that are caused due to in availability, inappropriate targeting, shipment reversal, consumer disloyalty, and reduced sales can be addressed aptly. Big data is strongly suggested for Shop clues as it helps in optimally exploiting consumer transactional data, advanced business analytics in precisely identifying potential consumers thereby tremendously increasing the chances of sales and profitability. Consumer past buying history and varied other information sects is of immense use for businesses and thus advanced data analytics tool of big data technologies is imperative for Shop clues to maximize sales, optimize supply chain processes and reduce delays and denials in processes.

Sources- 

Deepan, I., Saini, J., Wani, S., and Pal, S. (2021). Shopclues. Retrieved from Shopclues (slideshare.net) 

 Duggal, N. (2023). Top 7 Benefits of Big Data and Analytics and Reasons to Consider It Retrieved from Top 7 Benefits of Big Data & Analytics | Simplilearn   

 Nair, R. (2022). Why ShopClues Failed? | Case Study Behind the Downfall of the Once Unicorn Startup in India Retrieved from Why ShopClues Failed? Retrieved from Why ShopClues Failed? | Case Study of the Startup’s Downfall (startuptalky.com)